Omidiran Tasks FCT To Lead Grassroots Sports Talent Discovery

The Executive Chairman of the Federal Character Commission (FCC), Hon. Hulayat Motunrayo Omidiran, has challenged the Federal Capital Territory Administration to make the FCT a leading centre for grassroots sports development and talent discovery across Nigeria.

Omidiran gave the charge in Abuja when the Chairman of the FCT Football Association (FCT FA), Alhaji Abba Mohammed Mukthar, accompanied by members of the board and management, and the Acting Director of Sports, FCT Sports Department, Mr Iyiola Ogundele, paid a courtesy visit to her at the FCC headquarters.

The meeting focused on strengthening grassroots sports development, identifying young talents, promoting youth engagement and increasing the participation of the six Area Councils in sporting activities.

Omidiran said the FCT should look beyond football and establish a deliberate system for identifying and nurturing talents across different sporting disciplines.

“I want FCT to be the arrowhead of any detection of sporting talents, not only football but all sports. We have to be intentional and serious, and we have to see sports as something that can make Nigeria richer,” she said.

She urged the FCT Sports Department to prioritise the development of functional sports facilities and programmes, while pledging to support efforts to secure the necessary institutional and budgetary backing.

Omidiran also called for more coaches in schools, suggesting that teachers with knowledge of particular sporting disciplines could initially be trained and deployed as coaches while efforts are made to recruit professional coaches.

“We also have to fight for the employment of coaches in schools. We can start by turning teachers who have knowledge of particular sports into coaches while we work towards bringing in professional coaches,” she said.

The FCC chairman, who is the proprietor of Omidiran Babes and a former Executive Committee member of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), said her involvement in football had always been driven by the desire to improve the lives of young people through sport.

She also expressed concern over Nigeria’s recent decline in women’s football, particularly the country’s failure to qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, calling for urgent action to reverse the trend.

“I am in deep pains seeing that Nigeria can’t even qualify for the Women’s World Cup. If there is any time for anyone to try to change things, this is the time,” she said.

Omidiran stressed that restoring Nigeria’s position in women’s football would require collective leadership, strategic planning and renewed investment, noting that no individual could achieve the necessary transformation alone.

Earlier, Mukthar commended Omidiran for her contributions to football and sports development and expressed the FCT FA’s readiness to establish a stronger partnership with the FCC.

He said the collaboration would help mobilise the six Area Councils and increase their participation in national sporting programmes.

“We want the FCT to hold a very strong position in the country, and we believe this partnership can help us mobilise the Area Councils to participate more actively in national sporting programmes,” Mukthar said.

Ogundele said the proposed partnership would expand talent identification beyond football, noting that young people in FCT communities possess abilities that could be developed into talents in sports such as gymnastics and other disciplines.

The meeting came days after Omidiran attended the opening ceremony of the FCT FA Women’s Inter-Area Council Tournament at the Area 3 Football Pitch, where defending champions AMAC defeated Gwagwalada 7-0.